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The Second Battle of Kharangia
The Second Battle of Kharangia was the decisive battle of the Tierran-Antari War and resulted in the complete destruction of Prince Mikhail of Khorobirit's army as well as the complete collapse of Antari resistance. Prelude After the Siege of Kharangia concluded with the fall of the great city the king put his ultimate plan into motion. He split his army into two divisions, the first of which was under the command of Lieutenant General Arthur D'al Havenport and would remain at Kharangia while the second, under the personal command of the king himself, would march north. Khorobirit, shocked by the fall of Kharangia, begins marching towards the city and Havenport's division. Khorobirit eventually made it to the city and took up position on the opposite side of the River Kharan. Meanwhile the king's division seized the city of Mhillanovil, a vital part of Khorobirit's supply lines and forcing him to shift it threw the lands of several less reliable allies. At this point a special task force of grenadiers and cavalry led by Lady Katrina d'al Cazarosta of Royal Intelligence march towards the fortress of Januskovil in a bid to either capture or kill Princess Aleksandra, his daughter, or Lady Anna, his wife. They succeed in this task, prompting Khorobirit to launch a immediate attack on what he thinks is Havenport's isolated division of 8,000 men; there were in fact, nearly 20,000. Unknown to Khorobirit, King Miguel's division of 12,000 men had left M'hillanovil and regroup with Havenport to prepare for Khorobirit's expected arrival. Opposing forces Tierran Order of Battle The Royal Tierran Army had gathered up an army of nearly 20,000 men together and were camped outside the walls of Kharangia, facing towards the River Kharan. This force however, is not in the finest condition when it is about to face the full might and wrath of Khorobirt's armies: some of the battalions and regiments were either slightly understrengthed but composed of battle-hardened veterans or having most men being raw conscripts recently arrived to Antar having not seen a skirmish. The Duke of Havenport knows very well that he can't face Khorobirit head on without using the elements of his surroundings to oppose Khorobirit, which he decided to use the raging currents of the River Kharan to slow Khorobirit down: he ordered bridges to be sapped and ford crossings to be mined and fortified. He then set the plans to deploy his army, by giving both of his most trusted generals the command of his most elite and veteran troops, to the Duke of Cunaris he was given Havenport's ancestral regiment the Kentauri Highlanders and his Regiment of Dragoons and the Earl of Castermaine received the 2nd, Grenadier Guards. But the greatest asset Havenport had at his disposal, was the entire Northern Fleet of the Royal Navy with 61 ships in total waiting anchored at the shores of Kharangia facing an open ground where they will be able to deliver their devastating broadsides to wreck absolute havoc on Khorobirit's armies, as well as many artillery pieces that were temporarily taken off from some of the ships to shore up fortifications for supporting the defending infantry regiments. Havenport then shored up his line and defenses with both of his best and trusted generals and their elite troops watching his flank: On his left closest to the shore where the navy is waiting, with Castermaine's brigade; to his right and furthest flank, with Cunaris' brigade, he then deployed the rest of the 3 infantry brigades to guard the other crossings with 3 infantry brigades in reserves in order to reinforce the line should the centre started to waver under the assault of the Antari. After all the preparations he made, he waited for Khorobirit to send in his men.... Antari Order of Battle Prince Khorobirit by the time when he arrived at the opposite side of the River Kharan, he had only one specific goal: to annihilate the whole of the Tierran army. In according to intelligence reports given out by Tierran scouts, Khorobirit's forces numbered somewhere between 40,000-60,000 men with no exact calculation due to high risk of exposing to the enemy. It was however know that he had his usual peasant levies, and his famed Church Hussars which had infamously caused the destruction of Baron Tourbridge's brigade and the death of the late Duke of Wulfram at Blogia. He had also at his disposal: the Oberlinder Light Horsemen of the Central Plains, and above all: 30 battalions of trained line infantry, which they had been modelled and equipped under the Tierran/Takaran standard arms and drill. Khorobirit's plan was a simple one: to start his attack with an artillery barrage to break the Tierran line and shore up passable crossings of the river, send in his peasant levies to wear down the Tierran infantry, and ultimately route the Tierrans with his cavalry and the line infantry. Battle The battle began with a largely ineffectual Antari artillery barrage on the Tierrans, stationed across the River Kharan, combined with light horse sent to mark the crossings they would have to advance through to reach the Tierran army. Once they were marked the main body of Antari infantry began to advance, although they soon came under heavy fire from the Tierran artillery and the Royal Navy stationed just off the coast. When they reached the river crossings they triggered a Tierran banetrap, boiling the water and causing the Antari to choke to death on their own blood. However, the Antari advance continued and the two armies met into melee combat soon after. The engagement between both sides last for several times, resulting the peasant levies to be pushed back and the Tierran army started to be tired out. By the afternoon of the battle, the Tierran centre was greatly weakened by the assault of the Antari peasant levies and started to waver under the pressure, resulting in Havenport to issue the order and replace them with the 3 reserved brigades to hold the line. At the same time, he issued the order for a signal rocket to be launched: an order to the Northern Fleet to start their bombardment on the Antari position, causing massive damage among the Antari ranks for the next few minutes. At this point, it may seem that Havenport had run out of plans and the fresh troops he required to hold Khorobirit at bay as his entire army still advances. However, it was at the same moment when Khorobirit had committed the whole of his forces, Havenport springs his trap: unknown to Khorobirit, before the army was being deployed into their positions, he had secretly ferried the whole of the Tierran cavalry corps under the command of the newly promoted Sir Louis-Auguste d'al Palliser, Lt.-colonel of the White Rose Lancers and positioned at Khorobirit's exposed flank. The time when the Northern Fleet ceased fire, he led the cavalry into a charge which not only had caused confusion among the Antari, in turn he also caused massive panic to them, news of their flank being cut off and escape route to be potentially cut off spreaded fear across Khorobirit's army, they wavered and turned into a general route, only the few line infantry battalions and cavalry who were still busy in the fight continued on. Havenport, sensing victory, orders a general advance across the Kharan, those battalions who still had the fighting strength within them chased the fleeing Antari with whatever strength was left in them, many of the Antari who just realised of their defeat started to flee, only to be cut off by Palliser's cavalry, among the prisoners, Prince Ivan of Jugashavil, Prince Khorobirit's brother-by-marriage, as well as at least 83 Lords of the Congress and nearly a thousand Church Hussars, who were cut off by Palliser and the cavalry corps, while the rest who were fortunate to escape the cavalry ran for their lives with Khorobirit, who was forced to abandon his own artillery. With this the Second Battle of Kharangia, was decided. Aftermath Following the crushing defeat at Second Kharangia and the total destruction of Prince Khorobit's armies Antari resistance effectively collapsed. While the lords of the league congress bickered in Octorobit the Royal Army set the Central Plains ablaze. Relying primarily on cavalry Havenport swept aside all who resisted the victorious Tierran's advance and defeating the last pitiful host sent the league sent against him by destroying their sources of food and water and sending them fleeing back north without firing a single shot in anger. After two years of the victorious Tierrans running roughshod over the Central Plains they finally negotiated a surrender as the Royal Army approached Octorobit itself, thus ending both a decade of war and Antar's status as a great power, a title it had held for thousands of years, paving the way for Tierra to replace Antar as the true great power of the Northern Kingdoms.